THE grieving teammate of one of two local men who succumbed to suspected heart attacks while playing cricket last week has called for defibrillators to be mandatory at all Lake Macquarie playing fields.
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Karl Zalewski said the deaths could not be ignored.
"I don't want nothing to come out of this," Mr Zaleswki, of Bonnells Bay, said.
"We've got to start saving lives."
Mr Zalewski is the vice-captain of Dora Creek Workers Cricket Club's D2-grade team.
Dora Creek was playing at Pickering Oval, at Adamstown Heights, on November 9, when captain and opening batsman, Simon Marks, 45, collapsed and died.
On the same afternoon, Rod Tinworth, 47, of the Bonnells Bay-based Newcastle Bay Hotel Cricket Club, suffered the same fate at Waterboard Oval, in Blackalls Park.
Both men had been batting when they collapsed.
Players performed CPR on the men until ambulances arrived. Neither could be saved.
Ms Zalewski said it was time for defibrillators to be considered as essential equipment - either as cricket kit items or ground facilities.
Patients who had a defibrillator administered soon after experiencing a heart attack had a greater chance of surviving, Mr Zalewski said.
Defibrillators can cost up to about $3000, depending on the model.
Whether they were purchased outright by sporting clubs, Lake Macquarie City Council, through the NSW Office of Sport's Local Sport Defibrillator Grant Program, or some combination of all of these, Mr Zalewski said it didn't matter.
"Whatever it takes. Just do it," he said.
Lake Macquarie City Council does not supply defibrillators at its sports grounds.
"Sporting clubs that manage council sporting facilities may choose to install defibrillators," a spokesperson for the council said.
"Council manages more than 90 sporting facilities across the city. Currently, defibrillators are installed at St John Oval, Charlestown; Marks Oval, Floraville; John Street Oval, Warners Bay; and Croudace Bay Sports Complex (Valentine Rugby League)."
Defibrillators were also provided at Lake Macquarie's patrolled beaches, Lake Mac Swim Centres, and buildings such as the council administration centre, the spokesperson said.
"The NSW Office of Sport offers the Local Sport Defibrillator Grant Program, where clubs and organisations can apply for dollar-for-dollar grants to purchase and maintain defibrillators. Council officers promote this program regularly to all of our external stakeholders," they said.
Mr Zalewski said he had gone public with his plea not solely as a reaction to both local clubs' grief, but out of respect for every local family who had a loved one playing cricket.
In recent years, other Hunter cricketers have survived heart attacks.
"It's getting to the point where it's going to deter older blokes from having a game, and wives won't want their husbands playing," he said.
"And nobody should have to go through what's just happened."
Mr Zalewski said while all local sporting teams deserved the protection that defibrillators offered, the need for the life-saving devices was probably more acute in the lower grades of competitions such as the Newcastle City and Suburban premierships.
"That's because those are the grades that older blokes are more likely to be playing in," he said.
For that reason, it was just as important for defibrillators to be available at smaller and remote playing fields as it was for them to be at the city's premier playing fields, he said.
Most of the premier cricket clubs in the Sydney competition have defibrillators at their grounds.
A Cricket NSW spokesperson said defibrillators were "being discussed at Cricket Australia level" even before the recent deaths.
